[stevescoots]

To look back on just how many times we have taken trips away from home! Doing my quarterly missing points claims so thought this year I will go first!

apart from a somewhat chaotic schedule due to outside factors its been a steady year , notable for not much other than crazy pricing!

Flights:

Total sectors 56 of which 26 LH and the rest Short. Almost all UK to Asia and interAsia
All LH done in J and about 4 of short in Y. No new airports or airlines this year

Hotel Nights 34, but I keep apartments in Vietnam and China, again nothing new as far as locations are concerned.

Only one business rail trip. Dongguan to HK.

Retained my CX diamond OW early on in the year but by year end all the others (Skyteam/Star/EK) will be back down to entry level, as will my IHG. A far cry from pre Covid.

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SimonS1, CheerUp, w8ster, LuganoPirate, esselle, MartynSinclair, Johnnyg, cwoodward

[Echo3#5]

Nice trips! Crazy pricing, but at least you flew J class. Keep exploring, my friend! 🌍✈️

[LuganoPirate]

Despite all my pans for this year, I didn’t realise a single one of them!!!
this year was mainly back and forth to S. Africa with a few European trips thrown in for good measure.
A new route for me was Edelweiss to Cape Town and back with Lufthansa on their new A350 which was a first for me in that aircraft.

Next year? I hope Japan for the first time. My son goes there on academic travel in March with his professor and 20 students, and I may join them there. Mrs. LP has no interest in Japan, so will meet me on the return in Singapore and we’ll try and make a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Also possible is South Korea for a board meeting as we have a tie up with a business school there. The alternative is Miami and if they choose Miami I’ll attend via ZOOM!

Other than that, and South Africa, we have no travel plans yet.

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SimonS1

[Denis]

I can add a new airline and destination to my collection this year – Qatar Airways in J/F to Dubai!

[w8ster]

Quite a hectic one this year so far (one more to go).

Between studies and business: 126 days on the road, 194 hours in the air, 42 sectors, 18 airports (majority out of DXB) and 10 countries. Only one new country sadly but it has been a long but good year.

Kept SQ and EK gold and silver with AF.. sadly losing Cathay silver soon.

Last one to France for Christmas and that is 2023 done.

[CheerUp]

15 sectors for me this year… 10 on one trip!

6 New Airports – LAX/BUR/MEX/TRN/LIS/LYS

Biggest suprise – AA on 787 PHL-LAX with new J class – very nice flight and great crew.
Best Flight – Finnair A350 – Expected, amazing J class and crew were a delight.
Worst Flight – BA to PHL. Rude crew member, old J class.

Honorable mention to Viva Aerobus too – may be a first on this fourm!
Good fare, effiecient, on time and polite.

Happy New Year to all.

[TominScotland]

74 sectors for me this year, across BA, EZY, FR, JAL, JQ, KL, MH, QF, QR, SK and ZL. Most of my travel is in Y with a light dusting of Premium Economy and Business. No operational upgrades this year which seems to be a sign of the times.

My only new airports were the eight on my Queensland outback milk run with REX (ZL), ending in Mount Isa

New favourite aircraft – A350 (all variants) which allows for a fabulous sleep in all classes – experienced them with Japan Airlines, Malaysia and Qatar.

Biggest (pleasant) surprise – retaining BA Gold despite not reaching the required Tier Points

Next year – a first time back in Hong Kong since the pandemic, Australia again, South Africa (again first time since 2019) and my usual Middle East and Malaysia visits

Flight cancellations (in a year when they were rife) – just one, a KLM flight from Stavanger to Amsterdam and forewarned by about 15 hours

[FDOS]

33 this year. 18 long haul, 2 mid, 13 short.

Lovely and nowhere near the insane 126/124 I took in 2012/2013.

787 still my fave aircraft, A320 steady for shorter flights.

[MartynSinclair]

I am now done for the year.

32 sectors – spread mainly amongst, Finnair, Air Malta, Cathay, Qatar and BA – with a singular ride on JAL.

No new Airports.

Favourite ride is on the A350.

Favourite lounge complex CX lounges in HKG

A big thank you to Tim F, for making all the sectors possible in a cost efficient and comfortable manner.

A big thank you to BT for making the Forum possible.

My most memorable travel experience for 2023, being invited to the races at Happy Valley a couple of weeks ago and enjoying the evening with 2 great posters.

I wish you all and very happy Christmas and a healthy prosperous and most importantly PEACEFUL New Year 2024 and beyond.

9 users thanked author for this post.

onajetplane, w8ster, SimonS1, Jacob, cwoodward, esselle, ASK1945, stevescoots, CheerUp

[Tristan]

All of my flying is done for the year so this is a good time of the year to introduce myself after a few years of lurking, punctuated by COVID.

This was quite a banner year for me, and for my wife, for travel. Our home base is NRT/HND. What I mostly count are airports and my new ones this year were: ASU, CGP, MAG, MAN, BHD, DUB, MLA, ADD, LAD, and FIH. I don’t count flights but I imagine that I was away from home maybe 150 days this year.

I am also not really into thinking about airlines but I do love rail. Took a Budapest – Berlin sleeper which was the most reasonable option to get back to Berlin. We took the Chittagong – Dhaka train which was actually very pleasant and on time but got off at the wrong station in Dhaka. Took a Cairo -Alexandria train one way but the bus is much more economical.

Random thoughts: I am feeling the pinch of the Ukraine War because LO reduced their NRT-WAW flights which were my favorite and FI flights went off my radar because of the time duration and expense. Doha has extremely cheap hotels while top end hotels in Dubai during the summer are an absolute bargain. Though we usually don’t plsurge on hotels, our favorite top brand hotel is Mandarin Oriental KL where club rooms can be had for around EUR 200 which we visited again this year. We are very happy we got back to Brazil again after a hiatus of five years and this business should continue again on an annual basis.

Luganopirate. If you make it to Tokyo we can meet for coffee.

[cwoodward]

I slow year for me as an accident in late 2022 laid me up for a while and still need to use a cane.
About 28 sectors long haul to Cape Town and Manchester plus NZ twice. All other around Asia
A prediction for 2024 – Cathay will open up to Africa and add several new African destinations.

[AlanOrton1]

28 sectors this year, mostly to the US with some EU and an Asia trip.

New airlines – AS & VY

New airports – BWI & SAN

Business travel highlight – club lounge at Grand Hyatt HK. Scott, the manager, the epitome of good service. A pleasure to be able to return after a few years.

Most surprising service – VY, couldn’t have been more professional and kind as one of our party required airport assistance. Left on time, landed early.

Wishing all a Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Year.

[MarcusGB]

Air Travel -I decided to stay mostly with long haul trips, taking stopovers via Amsterdam, and major S E Asian Cities way out and back.

A Record 4 returns to Australia with Air France wonderful new Business Cabin Suites,on their A350 and 773-ER Suites.
KLM’s Dreamliner 789’s Biz Suites and wonderfully warm crews to SIN, KUL, 8 Sectors.

Short and connecting KLM and Air France LON to Europe, with KLM European Economy & Business, and Air France new A200-300’s
The sector numbers vary as i try to go to and from Australia via different Countries, with stopovers.
Several sectors with Garuda (Only downhill on ground and on Board am afraid), and even worse Malaysia Airlines, all in Business.

Air Asia KUL-SYD in a quiet Business Cabins, 2 seats but no one next to me, one on a lucky Leased SQ A333 with only 6 of us in a 36 seat cabin, all SQ Cabins and seats as original!

Found much more pleasure only for Long Hauls, though means months away at a time, but leaving space for my favourite Amsterdam Stopovers out and back, as with cities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
No sole short hauls, yet the same time taken at the airport, for the long haul treats!

Same into 2024’s.

Swiss Air to Asia, and a few InterAsia Thai Flights.

I retained my 9th year Platinum with AF/KLM, (just a year from Platinum for Life), which i hope does not get extended like the UK Pension age!!!
Having held Gold with Etihad and other Airlines, i fly only two groups now. So Skyteam Elite.

I gained a 2 year Thai Airways Gold,so sorted for Thai / Star Alliance.

retained Gold for Accor Hotels, a Titanium in GHA hotels, (mainly due to BT and apartment stays in Australia), and Diamond Plus in a smaller US group, useful for NL’s European Stopovers.

I did not pay Long haul UK Government taxes, purchasing several tickets, starting long haul Biz Ex Amsterdam, saving at least £7.000!

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Jacob

[Author]

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